Iron ore reduction process



April 17, 1956 H. J. OGORZALY IRON ORE REDUCTION PROCESS Filed Nov. 1, 1954 CArzboUAdEous E L m T 5 U .b M O Q F a u L i m MIMIJH A m u s D 11 5 1 m E 1W s v N U 0 9 b ll Hear-g ol Osorzalg @[Irzvarzbor Q55 Clbbornag 7 2,742,353 r 7 IRON ORE REDUCTION PROCESS Henry' Je ogor z aly, SummitQN. J., assignor to Esso Research and Engineering Company, a corporation of Delaware This invention relates to a process for reducing ores of the iron ore type to metal by contacting the ore with solid carbonaceous material which is burned by'air or other combustion supporting gas to produce a reducing gas and the requiredheat for the reduction. The invention is specifically applicable to the production of sponge iron from iron ore. 1

This application is a continuation-impart of Serial No. 290,145, filed May 27, 1952 and now abandoned.

The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawing which is a semidi'agrammatic view in sectional elevation of one type of apparatus suitable for carrying out the invention. A Referring to the drawing, the figure'represents a vessel comprising an upper reduction section A, a middle gasification section B, and a lower separation section C. The

vessel contains a bed 2 in section A of fluidized, finely- United States atent 7 Patented Apr 17, 19 56 like. This reducing agent is added to the reaction zone in a ratio equivalent to about 0.3 to 0.75 part of carbon per part of ore. The factor which primarily determines the carbon requirement is the quantity of heat which must be supplied while maintaining a gas of sufficiently strong reducing power as indicated by the CO content of the discharged gas. Before charging to the reactor, the

carbonaceous reducing agent is comminuted to approxireduction zone A of vessel 1 where the solids are maintained in the form of a dense, turbulent, fluidized mass 2 having an upper level L at the level of the weir of over-- flow line 10. The feed ratio of coke to ore is about 0.5 :1. The solids are maintained in the fluidized conditionwithin the reduction zone by the introduction to said zone through distributing grid 3 of a. gas at a superficial velocity of about 2.5 feet per second. At this velocity the turbulence within the bed in the reduction zone is such that the iron ore and carbonaceous solid in intimate mixture are dispersed throughout the bed and any separation of the divided iron ore and carbonaceous material. The separation zone C contains an upperlayer of carbon 12 and ore; conduit 5 for the introduction of a finely-divided carbonaceous solid; conduit 6 for the introduction of preheated air or other combustion-supporting gas; line 14 for the removal of reduced iron; cyclone system 7 with dipleg 8 for the return of recovered fines for gasesleaving the reduction zone; pipe 9 for the removal of low grade combustible gas from the reduction zone; and overflow line andstandpipe 10 for removing solids from the reduction zone and transferring them to the separating zone.

'stituents such as quartz and clays. To be useful for purposes of the invention it is desirable that the iron ore containat least about 40% Fe, preferably above Fe.

Before charging to the process the ore is ground or pulverized to a size of, about 20 to 500 microns. The optimum particle size will depend somewhat on the density of the ore and the upward velocity of the fluidizing gas in the reactor, which velocity may range from about 0.5 to 5 feet per second, or preferably about 1.5 to 3 feet per second. With the preferred gas velocitiesjust stated the average particle size of the ore mayadvantageously be in the range of about 20 to 150 microns. The preferred fluidizing gas is air and the oxides of carbon produced in the process. However, instead of air other combustion supporting gases such as oxygen-enriched air, pure oxygen or mixtures of oxygen and steam can be used similarly.

two solids, if any is ,in fact encountered, is extremely minor. The depth of the reducing bed between grid 3 and level L is desirably between about 10 and 30 feet, e. g. 20

feet, so as to aid in keeping a relatively high concentration a of carbon monoxide in the ore reduction zone. Air in an amount equal to about 15 standard cubic feet of oxygen per pound of carbon feed is introduced into the bottom portion of gasification zone B via line 6, that is, into the dense carbon phase 12 which extends into the gasification zone from separation zone C as described hereafter. The air introduced via line 6 is preferably preheated to a convenient temperature such as 500 F. This air burns a portion of the carbonaceous solid in the gasification zone with complete consumption of the oxygen content of the gas and the prduction principally of CO2 with some CO. This combustion gas also entrains some carbon from the dense carbon phase through level 11 back into the reduction zone. In the reduction zone, a substantial part of the CO2 is reduced to CO by the large excess of hot carbon in the bed. i

The iron oxide which is also suspended in the reducing bed is converted to substantially oxygen-free metal by the carbon'monoxide content of the gas. '.In order to produce a gas having a relatively low ratio of CO2 to CO in reduction zone A it is necessary to operate at a temperature in the range of between approximately 1500 F.

and 2500,F., e. g. at 1800 F. The optimum tempera- The combustion supporting gas is fed to the process in a ratio equivalent to about 15 to30 standard cubic feet of oxygen per pound of carbon.

, The iron ore is reduced in the process with the aid of a solid carbonaceous reducing agent such as finely divided coal, coke, petroleum coke, charcoal, peat, lignite or the tent gas is favored by higher reduction temperatures as well as by deep beds of solids, so that, in general, it is preferred to operate at as high a temperature within the above range as-is consistent with avoiding of plugging of the bed and of clinker formation due to plasticity developing in the reduced iron, or in the ash content of the carbonaceous material charged to the reduction zone. In

this regard it should be noted that the presence of a relatively large excess of carbonaceous material is very eifec tive in increasing the temperature level at which the reduced iron can be maintained without experiencing stickiness and balling of the iron particles.

vbetween.about l and 20 per cent.

also require. additional compression or", the air employed.

The reduced iron ore particles-in admixture with an excess of, solid carbon overflow the level of the weir lattached to standpipe and'flowthrough the standpipe into the'lower separating zone'C. to which gas of a reducing or non-oxidizing nature, e. g. a portionof the reduction zone off-gas which is rich incarbon monoxide, or "aniextraneousgas such as nitrogen. is supplied at a low ratethrough line 19. "The superficial gas velocity in this zone is kept low, e. .g. at about 0.02 to 0.50 feet/ second, or preferably about 0.10 feet/second as measured across the totabcross-sectional area of the separating zone. "This causesthe solids to remain aerated and mobile, but avoids turbul nt motion. As a result'the .lightscarbonaceous matter-is easily separated as an upper,dense phrase layer 12'frorn the heavy reduced iron which forms a lower, densephrase layer l3.' The layer of iron is removed from the system viapipe'fl l which is advantageously equipped with a 'watencoolcdslide valve. T he supernatant carbonaceous phase forrns an upper level ill at the bottom of seet-ionB; the gasification zone. Separation of the solids is easily' ctlected' by the greaterbuoyancy of the lighter carbon relative to the heavy metal. The height of the dense carbon layer 12 in-the separation and 'gasification zonesis controlled by'the incoming airwhich gasifies the carbon and entrains some of it directly as suspended solidinto'the reduction bed.

The reduced ironparticles withdrawn'via line 14 will usually contain a substantial amount of gangue, e.'g.

be subsequently separated from the reduced ironin any convenient manner, notably by the process described in Patent 2,540,593. 'Furthermore, some gangue particles essentially :freeof iron may also'be formed in the process. sinceiasuch ganguc particles willbe lighter than the reduced metalpthere may be some tendency for elutriat'ion fromzthe reduced iron bed lltinto'the coke layer 12. Any tendencytoward excessive accumulation of gangue in the system :may be prevented insuch a case -by--withdrawing a' -purge stream of solids, preferably' from layer 12. This purge; stream may be eitherdiscarded in its entirety or further separated by another elutriationinto gangue 'for discard and coke for recycle to the system.

7 The reducinggasesipass up through bed 2 of'the reduction zone-and.entercyclone-system'7 wherein entrained solidparticles areuemovedand returned to the bed via dip leg =3. Gascsare removed from the cyclone and separated'fromthe system vialine 9.

Control of. the-system is maintained byxcharging finely divided'ore continuously at a rate suchthat satisfactory reduction is obtained, e. g. allowing an ore residence time in the reduction bed of about 10m 60 minutes, and withdrawing reduced metal fromthebottom of the separatingzoneat sucha rate as to maintain the depth of the metal layer 13 within the separating zone constant. Carbonaceous solid is added in' the :ratios specified before so as to maintain a; suitable carbon content within the reductionbed.

As already mentioned, in many cases itis advantageous to. supply 'the small amountof gas required for separating carbon from the reduced metal by' withdrawing part of the. overhead gas from the reduction Zone. In-sucha case .the gas may be withdrawn via1line 15, cooled in "The gas" is recycled via line 19 to the separating zone where it enters at a bottom portion thereof. This gas is reducing in nature and may be effectively used to elimina'e the small proportion of residual oxygen associated with incompletely reduced ore overflowing from zone A. By its cooling action it also tends to reduce any sticking difficulties. due toslight plasticity of the finely divided reduced metal. The overhead gas from the reduction zone -corresponds in nature to blast furnace gas and is similarly useful for combustion service where a low grade fuel gas is satisfactory.

In 'reading theforegoing description it should be understood that all ratios and percentages of materials are expressed throughout on aweight'basis unless otherwise indicated.

Having described the general nature and specific embodiment's of the invention, it will also be understood that its scope is not limited thereto except as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

What is claimed is: v

1. Aprocess for reducing oxidic ore of the iron ore type whichcomprises introducing a finely divided ore and an excess of finely divided carbonaceous material into a reductionzone, introducing a gas comprising amixture of CO2 and CO into the reduction Zone at a sufiiciently high velocity in'the range of. about 0.5-to 5 feet per second to'fluidize and maintain in turbulent suspension the finely divided solids in the reduction zone, removing a mixture of resulting reduced metal and carbon from the reduction zone to a separating zone, introducing a non-oxidizing gas atlow velocity in'the range'of about 0.02 to 0.5 feet per' secorid into a bottom portion of'the separating zone and passing it upwardly through said mixture, thereby This gangue. "can causing the separation of said mixture into afiuidized non-turbulent upper layer of carbon and a fluidized nonturbulent lower'layer'of metal, burning asubstantial portion' of the separated carbonaceous material with a combustion supporting gas at a temperature in the range or 1500" to' 2500" F. to form the said gas mixture comprising CO2 and CO for passage to said reduction zone where a'substan'tial proportion of the said CO2 is converted to CO'while simultaneously the said ore isreduced therein tothe metallic state, and removing reduced metal from the lower portion of the separating zone.

23A process according to claim 1 in which the ore has'aniron'con-tentof at least 40% and in which the combustion supporting gas is'air which isintroduced into the systenrat a rate-equal to about 15 to 30 standard cubic feet of oxygen-perpound of carbon feed.

3. A process according toclaim 2 in which the sepa-' rated carbon'layer is subadjacent to said reduction zone so that the air' introduced into the carbon layeugasifies and partially entrains the carbon in the resulting" combustion gases upwardly into the reduction zone.

-4. A' process according to claim 1 in which gaseous velocitiescin-the reduction zone are maintained in the range of 1.5 to3 feet per second, and in the separating zone at' a velocity of'about 0.1 feet 'per second.

5. A'processaccording to claim 1 in which the'mixture of metal and carbon is transferred fromthe reduction zone. to the separating zone viaan over'fiowconduit, said separating zone beingimmediately below the reduction zone.

"6.." A process according to claim 1 in whichthe"carbonaceous material introduced into the reduction Zone 'is petroleumcoke andis fed in aweight ratio-of about 0.3't0.0.75: part per-part of ore feed. 

1. A PROCESS FOR REDUCING OXIDIC ORE OF THE IRON ORE TYPE WHICH COMPRISES INTRODUCING A FINELY DIVIDED ORE AND AN EXCESS OF FINELY DIVIDED CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL INTO A REDUCTION ZONE, INTRODUCING A GAS COMPRISING A MIXTURE OF CO2 AND CO INTO THE REDUCTION ZONE AT A SUFFICIENTLY HIGH VELOCITY IN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 0.5 TO 5 FEET PER SECOND TO FLUIDIZE AND MAINTAIN IN TURBULENT SUSPENSION THE FINELY DIVIDED SOLIDS IN THE REDUCTION ZONE, REMOVING A MIXTURE OF RESULTING REDUCED METAL AND CARBON FROM THE REDUCTION ZONE TO A SEPARATING ZONE, INTRODUCING A NON-OXIDIZING GAS AT LOW VELOCITY IN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 0.02 TO 0.5 FEET PER SECOND INTO A BOTTOM PORTION OF THE SEPARATING ZONE AND PASSING IT UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID MIXTURE, THEREBY CAUSING THE SEPARATION OF SAID MIXTURE INTO A FLUIDIZED NON-TURBULENT UPPER LAYER OF CARBON AND A FLUIDIZED NONTURBULENT LOWER LAYER OF METAL, BURNING A SUBSTANTIAL POR- 